I am the one of the first subscribers of Astro. As my earlier suggestions to Astro fell on deaf ears, please allow me to air my grievances and suggestions here.

As we are early birds, we are now stuck with the outdated model receivers although we had paid high prices then when the US$ exchange rate was much higher than the current pegged one. We cannot view channels One and Two. I am afraid we may not even be able to hop on the bandwagon of satellite Internet and other value-added services which Astro has in the pipeline. Astro staff had admitted that the new programmes could not be downloaded via our old model receivers.

The best solution to our grievances would be to change our old model receivers without any charge or with very minimal nominal charges. As the problem is due to Astro engineers and management's shortsightedness in choosing models that cannot be upgraded, Astro must revise and reduce the monthly charges for us customers as we are getting a lesser service than the newcomers who are already enjoying the various discounts.

On another point, I understand that commercials on free TV must be louder than the programmes to attract viewers' attention and satisfy advertisers. However, I wonder why my complaint to Astro about the volume level of commercials and previews was ignored; after all, we are paying customers. In addition to that, Astro also should try to maintain the same sound level for different channels. As it is, users have to keep adjusting the volume level each time they switch channels.

I would like to suggest to Astro to negotiate with its counterparts in other Asian countries to get the transmission of at least one channel from each country. As there are many Asian citizens in Malaysia, these added channels could boost the number of Astro subscribers.

I am pleased with the programme repeats though there is still room for improvement. Programmes shown on weekends should be shown on weekdays, as some of us are always busy working or enjoying outdoor activities on weekends.